A substantial market has developed in recent years for inexpensively manufactured, individually encoded, transaction cards for such uses as store credit cards, membership cards, I.D. cards, etc. The transaction cards typically bear the code in a bar format to permit automatic machine scanning of the card. Such cards typically are supplied in sets with one or more labels, tags, etc. being supplied with each card and bearing the same individual code number as the card for attachment to application forms, membership lists, etc.
Previously, it has taken many separate manufacturing steps to provide such sets. Perhaps the most efficient prior method has been printing in multiple steps, individual sheets of uniquely encoded, typically sequentially numbered, transaction cards, printing separate strips of release paper back adhesive labels with the same, unique codes as the cards, in the same sequence of codes as the codes appear on the cards of the sheets, and attaching the strip(s) with the appropriate code numbers to each sheet with the labels adjoining the like coded card(s).
In practice, this apparently simple, straightforward method requires several labor intensive steps. The appropriate labels for each sheet of cards must be identified and applied by hand to the sheet so that the labels properly adjoin the associated transaction cards. Because this correlation of the separate elements of each sheet is done by hand, considerable time and effort also must be spent in checking the final product to assure accuracy.
In addition, because the transaction card sheets and label strips must be printed separately, more time is needed to complete the task if the same printer is used to print the transaction card sheet and label strips. Alternatively, several printers must be available to simultaneously print the cards and the strips.
The present invention is directed to solving the twin problems of relatively high cost and errors associated with hand production of sets of plural related printed elements, all bearing some code unique to each set of elements, by eliminating hand collation and assembly of the separate elements into the sets as well as the material costs associated with such elements.
The present invention is also directed to solving the problem of the numerous printing steps which are currently required to produce related sets of card sheets and separate label strips, by reducing the number of required printing steps.
The present invention is also directed to solving problems associated with mailing other types or card or card-sized objects that, in some way, require the provision of multiple, variable data sets with each mailer.